52 Ancestors: #7–Ray Christensen- Making a Night Fighter out of a Farmer

Whatever
possessed Ray Christensen to do an about-face on the life he had
planned, and enlist in World War II? He was 28 years old; had two and a
half years under his belt at the University of Minnesota, and was
working on an agricultural degree; he had a job selling insurance for
State Farm, and admittedly had a “pretty good setup” living rent free as
a grounds-keeper in a women’s boarding house (not bad for a
self-proclaimed “ladies’ man!”)

Agriculture
was in Ray's blood, and after high school he continued to help his
father on the family farm, then traveled the midwest as a hired man.
Autumn of 1938 finds him at the University of Minnesota to work on a
degree in agriculture. I don’t know what his plans were – go back to
farming? Extension work? Something else? But he worked hard to pay his tuition, and was the first in his family to go to college.

And
then suddenly, between semesters, he enlisted. Did the attack on Pearl
Harbor 3 weeks prior have anything to do with it? I don’t know, but
before you can say, “What happened?” he’s at Scott Field in Illinois.

Scott Field, 1942

One
of his first letters home says he’s learning code and electricity, and
eventually will learn radios. He’ll have to “work like heck to make
it,” but hopes to make the grade as a radio man on a bomber, or an
instructor. His scores on the exams are high - sometimes the highest.
Well, he did work like heck, and he was eventually a navigator on one of
the most wild rides a soldier could get – an assignment to a night
fighter squadron.

A typical radio class at Scott Field.

Ray
seemed to enjoy his time at Scott field – good food, comfortable bed,
and only four men to a room. The food was so good, in fact, that he
complained about his uniforms getting “a bit snug.” The only problem is
that passes were hard to come by, even on the weekends, and for a guy
like Ray who loves who loved to dance, well, that part did not go over
well.

By June, Ray had completed
his coursework at Scott Field and has moved on to the AAFTTC Technical
School in Boca Raton, Florida, which had just officially opened for
business on June 1st.1

The
main mission of the Boca Raton AAF was radar training – a field that
was considered top secret at that time. The personnel attending this
school had to pass a “rigorous background investigation” and be among
the most highly ranked candidates academically.2During
this time, Ray was also doing some instructing of some sort; his
letters don’t say much, but do frequently mention his students.

During
his time at Boca Raton, Ray passed the aerial gunnery board, and was
anticipating gunnery school before going “across.”

In
March of 1943, 7 months after arriving at Boca Raton, Ray is still
there, but anticipating being sent to Japan “any day now.” By the time
of his next letter in June, he has been sent to Kissimmee, Florida, and
would then go to the 417th Night Fighter Squadron by way of the British
Isles for additional training. The night fighter assignments were so
dangerous, men were considered on a volunteer basis only. I don't know
what might have prompted Ray to ask for this hazardous work - perhaps an
adventurous spirit, perhaps something else. From the British Isles, he
began his career as a night fighter navigator in the European Theater.
So much for going to Japan!

More on Ray's story in a future post~

SOURCES

Photo
of Scott Field and Radio class: “Scott Field, United States Army Air
Corps: A Pictorial and Historical Revies of Scott Field.” 1942

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Hello! I'm Karen, a "50-something" located in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. I'm a lab technologist by day, and by night, well, a house-cleaning, dinner-cooking, webmaster, family historian, blog-author, baseball-watching, facebooking grandma.